Lucky Bastard
Wayward Adventure
Fri 18 Sep 2009 21:58
|
As with all adventures there are stories that come
along that need to be told. This story is about one of our Cruising
friends that has just made it into sailing lore. His name is Aedgard and
he is a 66 year old single-hander. He is finishing his 5th
circumnavigation on his own boat Lariekoek. This trip around has
taken 17 years and will finish in New Zealand. His shorter circumnavs were
done on Dutch boats with him as winning skipper of back to back Whitbread
round the world races. He is a Legend in New Zealand as his crew in those
days all went on to become Americas cup champions for various countries.
So he is a legend without a doubt. The last I saw him was when we
waved goodbye as he was sailing out of Neifu harbor on his way to Fiji
before heading to New Zealand. We all met months ago and became good
friends in the meantime, so when someone sails off you hope you see them again
somewhere down the line. Two days later there was a report on the radio
that a sailboat had hit a reef at night in Fiji and they believed all was
lost. The sailboat was reported to be a single-hander and the
boat....Lariekoek! With no more information than that we had to wait 12
long hours before any more news was available. Finally word from Bravado a
sailboat that was buddy boating with Lariekoek. It seems that in the night
Bravado was able to get to Aedgard and rescue him in their dingy and they
were standing by until daylight to see if they could salvage any of his
belongings. Another 12 hours and I get an email from Bravado. Upon
daylight a local Panga with three Fijians aboard picked up
Aedgard and took him to the reef where there were already 25
Fijians assembled. The crowd helped fill up 4 pangas
with everything on board including the stove and batteries.
Then the island caretaker rolled in a CAT excavator and gently lifted each
end of the boat while locals put tires under Lariekoek. Then they built a
framework of giant mahogany beams with 15 empty oil barrels attached to it and
waited for the tide to come in and successfully floated her off and onto a
mooring. But wait how is it possible that all these people with all
this equipment just happen to be sitting there on this remote island in
Fiji.......Mel Gibson...what do you mean Mel Gibson? It turns out Mel
bought the island a few years back and has a full time crew building an estate
there as well as a landing strip with private jet. I just received an
email from Aedgard and he says that all the equipment off the boat is
stored in a palapa next to the swimming pool and Mel's private chef was
cooking him dinner. Aedgard can fly out on the private plane as
necessary and he was given a cottage to stay in while getting things in
order. So I can say without a doubt that you Aedgard are one
lucky bastard. I have never been envious of anyone hitting a reef but this
might be the exception. Lariekoek is floating and there appears to be no
leaks and Aedgard believes he will be able to sail the final stretch to New
Zealand with some minor repairs done. What a story. He ended
the email by saying "Old sailors never die". Indeed you lucky
bastard.
AP
|